Good news for smokers flying through Macau: even as the city moves to tighten its anti-smoking law, Macau International Airport’s (MFM) smoking rooms keep their exemption. On June 9, 2026 the Legislative Assembly unanimously passed the outline of a government bill amending Macau’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Law, 32 votes to nil — and the long-standing carve-out for airport and casino smoking rooms stays in place.
What is changing
The amendments, enacted the following month as Law 10/2026 — in force from January 1, 2027, with the e-cigarette rules from July 1, 2027:
- Extend the outdoor smoking ban to more public areas — including within 10 metres of the entrances to all schools, kindergartens, crèches, hospitals, and public health centres.
- Ban e-cigarettes in all public spaces.
- Equip anti-smoking inspectors with body-worn cameras.
The fixed fine for illegal smoking is 1,500 patacas. Macau’s tobacco law first took effect in 2012 and has been amended twice before, in 2018 and 2022.
The airport smoking rooms keep their exemption
Here is the key point for travelers. Under Macau’s law, indoor smoking is banned in all public venues except for the smoking rooms in casinos and at the airport — and the enacted amendment leaves that exemption untouched. So Macau International Airport (MFM) remains one of the relatively few airports worldwide where you can still smoke in a designated indoor room after security.
What it means for smokers
If you are flying via Macau, you can still use the airport’s indoor smoking rooms as before — see our Macau Airport (MFM) smoking guide for the room locations. The one thing to watch is vaping: Law 10/2026 bans e-cigarettes across all public spaces from July 1, 2027, so use only the designated smoking facilities and keep any vape device packed away in public areas. Macau is part of our wider China airport smoking guide, which covers the mainland plus Hong Kong and Macau.
The bigger picture: Macau is steadily tightening where you can light up outdoors and clamping down on vaping, and it continues to protect indoor smoking rooms at the casinos and the airport — a smoker-friendly stance that sets it apart from most of Asia.
Update (September 2026): The bill is now law, and the airport smoking rooms came through it intact. The Legislative Assembly passed Law 10/2026 article by article on July 21, 2026 — again 32 votes to nil — and it was published in the Official Gazette (Series I, No. 30) on July 27, 2026. Article 5 of the amended law leaves the exception for smoking rooms in airport facilities exactly as it was, so the MFM rooms continue unchanged; the enacted 10-metre outdoor bans cover the entrances of hospitals, health centres, crèches and other child-care premises, and primary and secondary schools. The law takes effect on January 1, 2027. The e-cigarette clampdown is the part travellers need to diary: from July 1, 2027 the new Article 5-A bans not only using but carrying an e-cigarette in every place the law covers — the exempt smoking rooms included — and in any outdoor area of collective use, with a fine of 1,500 patacas for an individual caught in possession. Cigarettes in the airport smoking rooms are unaffected; leave the vape at home.
Sources
- Macau Post Daily — Macau legislators pass outline of bill toughening anti-smoking rules: macaupostdaily.com
- Legislative Assembly of Macao — Law 10/2026, amending Law 5/2011 (votes, gazette reference and entry into force): al.gov.mo